ANAHEIM – Six CIF-Southern Section championship games over 20 years would be a terrific accomplishment for any high school sports program.
It would be a more enjoyable accomplishment for Villa Park if one of those games ended in victory.
Villa Park lost to Colony of Ontario, 74-70, in the CIF-SS Division 2AA boys basketball championship game Saturday at Honda Center.
The Spartans are 0-6 in CIF-SS finals. Kevin Reynolds has been their coach for all six of those games. The first one was in 1997, when Villa Park lost to Woodbridge. Five of the finals losses have occurred at Honda Center. One was at Anaheim Convention Center.
This season continues for Villa Park (23-6) in the CIF Southern California Regionals, which start next week. Villa Park will compete in Division 3. The first-round pairings for the regionals will be released Sunday.
Colony (27-5) won its second CIF-SS championship by overcoming some bad free-throw shooting. Colony was 23 for 39 at the line. Nine of the free throws the Titans made, though, came in the fourth quarter.
“Our free-throw shooting was terrible,” Colony coach Jerry De Fabiis said. “The good thing is we made them when it counted.”
Villa Park had a 64-61 lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Spartans were outscored, 13-6, the rest of the way as Colony’s suffocating trap created turnovers and its offensive-rebounding prowess changed the momentum.
A Villa Park turnover, one of 20 it made in the game, became a fast-break layup for Rodrick McCobb to put the Titans ahead, 66-64. They would remain on top for good after that.
Colony had a 36-29 lead at halftime. Caleb Banuelos made three 3-pointers in the third quarter as the Spartans outscored the Titans, 26-17, in the quarter to take a 55-53 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Titans play a high-speed style whereas Villa Park prefers a more patient approach. The Spartans were lured into the faster tempo in the first half.
“We came out in the third quarter and played more like ourselves,” Reynolds said. “Then we got worn down a little bit in the fourth quarter. And it seemed like whenever they missed a shot, we couldn’t get that rebound.”
Villa Park senior guard Myles Franklin said, “Those offensive rebounds killed us at the end of the fourth quarter.”
Banuelos finished with a game-high 20 points. He was 4 for 6 on 3-pointers.
Franklin, who signed with Northeastern, scored 16 points. His brother, sophomore guard Julian Franklin, scored 10 points. Both Franklins fouled out late in the game; center Matt Lanzone fouled out in the middle of the final quarter.
The best basketball player on Villa Park’s campus did not suit up Saturday and could not play at all this season. Evan Battey, a 6-foot-7 senior who was All-Orange County first team last season, had used up his eight semesters of athletic eligibility at the end of his junior year. Battey, whose status as a prospect remained strong and he signed with Colorado, stayed at the school and stayed with the team, working as an assistant coach every practice and every game.
Reynolds on Saturday, as he has all season, deflected the question of what might have happened against Colony if Battey could have played.
“We just changed his role,” Reynolds said. “We’re not here without him. He’s a fantastic assistant coach, and I’m upset that he’s leaving because we sure could use him next year.”
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com